The present invention relates to a knife and a cutting wheel for a food product slicing apparatus in which the thickness of the food slices may be accurately controlled and which enables the slicing apparatus to produce a higher quantity output.
Many types of food slicing apparatus are known in which a food product is transported into a rotating wheel having a plurality of cutting knives such that the food product is cut into slices. In the food processing industry, it is vitally important that the food product be cut into slices having a uniform thickness without damaging the food product. Such thickness uniformity facilitates the further processing of the food product giving a maximum amount of usable food product with a minimum amount of waste.
Broadly, food slicing devices comprise those having a rotating wheel in which a plurality of knives extend between a hub and a rim, and the food product is fed through the cutting plane of the rotating wheel, and those having a drum in which the circumference of the drum comprises a plurality of shoes, each shoe having a cutting knife thereon wherein the cutting edge of one shoe is spaced from a trailing edge of an adjacent shoe to control the thicknesses of the sliced food product. In the drumtype of cutting devices, the food product is fed into the interior of the drum onto a rotating base and is driven by paddles or blades on the base and by centrifugal force into contact with the stationary cutting knives. Generally speaking, controlling the consistency of the thickness of food products sliced with the rotating wheel device requires accurate coordination between the rotating speed of the wheel, the spacing between the blades of the wheel and the feed rate of the food product. The accurate control of all of these parameters results in a complex apparatus and these devices have not achieved the desired slice thickness accuracy and consistency at high production volumes.
The drum type of slicing apparatus accurately controls the thickness of the sliced food product, but cannot reach the desired high output volume without the possibility of damaging the food product. The output volume of these devices is limited by the rotational speed of the base, which must be limited to prevent possible damage to the food product by contact with the paddles or blades of the base. Another drawback associated with this type of slicing apparatus relates to the orientation of elongated food products. It is often desirable to slice an elongated food product either perpendicular to, or at an oblique angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the elongated food product. However, it is extremely difficult to properly orient elongated food products, which may have varying dimensions, both longitudinally and laterally, in the drum type of slicing apparatus in order to slice the food product in the desired orientation.
Typical, known cutting wheels are illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. A first type of known wheel illustrated in FIG. 1 comprises a hub 10, about which is concentrically arranged a rim 12, the hub and rim being interconnected by a plurality of knives 14. Each of the knives 14 has a cutting edge 16 facing in the direction of rotation of the wheel, indicated by arrow 18. The width W of each of the cutting knives 14 is relatively small thereby forming a radially extending space 20 between a trailing edge of one knife and the cutting edge of the adjacent knife having large dimensions in a circumferential direction. Not only is the space 20 between the knives relatively large, but the circumferential dimension of this space 20 is greater adjacent to the rim than adjacent to the hub.
A second type of known cutting wheel is illustrated in FIG. 2 wherein the hub 10 and the rim 12 are similar to the previously described cutting wheel, but cutting knives 22 have a greater width W. Again, the knives 22 each have a cutting edge 24 facing in the direction of rotation, illustrated by arrow 26. Although the radial space 28 between the cutting edge of one knife and a trailing edge of an adjacent knife is somewhat smaller than in the previously described known cutting wheel, the circumferential dimensions of the space 28 varies greatly between the rim and the hub.
Typically, the food product is transported through the cutting plane of the cutting wheel at a constant speed and the cutting wheel is rotated, also at a constant speed. The varying circumferential dimensions of the radial spaces 20 and 28 between the adjacent knives 14 and 24 render it difficult to achieve a desired high level of consistency in the thickness of the sliced food product.